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tv   The Situation Room  CNN  October 5, 2012 4:00pm-7:00pm EDT

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fundraiser for president obama's re-election campaign. national geographic's president told "new york times" the network chose the november 4th debut date here to help promote its fall schedule. he says other than being commercially opportunistic, we weren't considering the election. end. there you have it. i'm brooke baldwin. hope you have a wonderful weekend. don't go anywhere. wolf blitzer is up next. "the situation room" starts now. brooke, thanks very much. happening now, important and surprising numbers about jobs forcing both the president and mitt romney to re-write their pitch to voters. ge's former boss calls the jobs numbers unbelievable. wait until you hear the smackdown he gets from a one-time member of the obama white house. and mitt romney's complete aboutface. how he now calls his 47% remarks totally wrong. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."
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we begin with president obama out there on the campaign trail making the most of today's unexpected and potentially, potentially game changing numbers about jobs. with only 32 days to go before the election, the labor department announced employers created 114,000 jobs last month. just as important the numbers from july and august were revised upward to show the economy added 86,000 more jobs than we originally thought. september's unemployment rate fell from 8.1% down to 7.8%. it hasn't been this low since president obama was inaugurated. and out there on the campaign trail today he's taking full credit for the change. let's bring in our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. she's getting reaction from the white house, from the campaign. the president's pretty happy about these numbers, isn't he? >> yes, wolf. but for the white house and the president, it's a balancing act.
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for the president, he's trying not to suggest that we're out of the woods yet, but he is using the numbers to support the case he's been making on the trail that his policies have been good for the economy. and in the words of his campaign slogan, are helping move the nation forward. >> after losing about 800,000 jobs a month when i took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past two and a half years. this morning we found out that the unemployment rate has
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>> campaigning in virginia coal country, mitt romney tried to dig through the latest jobs numbers to make the case president obama has not hit pay dirt just yet. >> there are fewer new jobs created this month than last month. and the unemployment rate as you noted this year has come down very, very slowly, but it's come down nonetheless. the reason it's come down this year is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work. >> reporter: still, one of reen's key metrics on the president's handling of the economy went up in smoke when the nation's unemployment rate dipped below 8%.
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>> 8% unemployment for over, how many, 43 months? we still have unemployment above 8%. he told us he'd get us back to work. unemployment above 8% month after month after month. >> reporter: it's a political bar romney has repeatedly accused the president to clear for months. repeated in his closing statement at the first presidential debate. >> we've had 43 straight months with unemployment above 8%. if i'm president, i will help create 12 million new jobs in this country with rising incomes. >> reporter: but romney notes the president has fallen short of estimates set by the administrati administration's own economic advisors once predicted the stimulus would lower the jobless rate to below 6%. >> what's happened is this has been the slowest recovery since the great depression. as a matter of fact, he said right now we would be at 5.4% unemployment. >> president obama says he's creating jobs, but he's really creating debt.
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>> reporter: and romney has a new ad out arguing the president's job creation efforts have only added to the deficit. >> a couple nights ago we had a debate. you may have got the chance to see that. >> reporter: before the new jobs numbers, romney had been riding a wave of momentum after this week's debate. he even got a pass from the president who never mentioned romney's comments on the 47% of americans who don't pay federal income taxes. >> there are 47% of the people who vote for the president no matter what. >> reporter: with an obama campaign ad still repeating those, romney tried to put an end to the controversy once and for all on fox. >> clearly in a campaign with hundreds and thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right. in this case i've said something that's completely wrong. >> reporter: romney heads next to florida where his economic message will still resonate. that state's unemployment rate while it has gone down in recent months is still well above the national average. wolf. >> jim acosta joining us, thanks very much. let's dig deeper right now with our chief political analyst
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gloria borger. gloria, this unemployment number, the new number, how important is it to each of these two candidates? >> well, first of all it's got to be a real boost for president obama as jessica was talking about earlier. if not reality, then also a real psychological boost to get below that 8% figure. very important to them. because what it does, wolf, is it plays into the poll numbers that we've already been seeing, which is that people believe that things are getting better. the numbers are still not where the president wants them to be. but if it plays into a sense of optimism in this country, that's very good for the president. but overall you're going to hear the same refrain from both campaigns. the president's going to say that he's added more than 5 million jobs, and mitt romney's going to say there's still 23 million unemployed. >> you've spent a lot of time covering mitt romney. you did that excellent documentary all of our viewers will remember. >> thank you. >> some folks are suggesting and no one's better to answer this than you that the so-called real
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mitt romney showed up at the debate this week. >> right. >> the guy who was there, that's the man who really exists as oppose today someone who is pretending to be someone else. >> well, when you talk to a lot of people who know mitt romney well, they'll tell you that he's really more of a pragmatist than ied log. what we saw at that debate was somebody i think seemed more comfortable with his content and his tone than he seemed to be during the primaries many times when he was running to his right. take a look at him during the primaries when he gave this little speech to a conservative group. >> i fought against long odds in a deep blue state. but i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> there he is. severely conservative. now look at him in the debate earlier this week. >> regulation is essential. you can't have a free market work if you don't have regulation. i don't have any plan to cut education funding and grants that go to people going to college.
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as president i will sit down on day one -- actually, the day after i get elected, i'll sit down with leaders, the democratic leaders as well as republican leaders and continue -- as we did in my state, we met every monday for a couple hours. talked about the issues and the challenges in our state in that case. we have to work on a collaborative basis. not because we're going to compromise our principle, but because there's common ground. >> so that doesn't sound as severely conservative as he did during the primaries. >> no. >> and of course it gives the obama campaign the opportunity to remind people about mitt romney as the governor of massachusetts and say, okay, this guy is a flip-flopper. so they started out by calling mitt romney an extremist, now he's a flip-flopper. >> he certainly didn't sound severely conservative at that debate. here's the question. why aren't those who are really severely conservative going through the roof right now? >> good question. i called a couple folks i would call severely conservative today and asked them about it. and they sort of started off by saying, you know, we were very happy that mitt romney was
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praising the free market system. that's very important to us. but when you kind of dug beneath the surface a little bit and got them to talk, the answer was the enemy of my enemy is my friend. right now we're rooting for mitt romney. should mitt romney become president of the united states, watch out. conservatives are watching him very closely. but for now he's their only horse and they got to ride him. >> so many of them don't like -- they hate the president of the united states, so they're willing to stomach some of the more moderate positions. >> absolutely. don't forget, for many of them mitt romney was not their first choice. but right now he's their only choice unless it's president obama. and given that, they'll take mitt romney. >> gloria borger, thanks very much for joining us. jack welsh, former head of general electric calls the new unemployment rate unbelievable. thinks the numbers were manipulated. you're going to hear what the former white house chief economist is saying about that. here's just part of what he has
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it's not quite an october surprise, but certainly some welcome news for the obama white house waging what has been an uphill battle against unemployment. this week the labor department reported the jobless rate fell sharply in september to 7.8%. that's the same level it was when president obama took office back in january 2009. actual growth last month was modest, only 114,000 jobs created.
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but the labor department also revised the july and august numbers to include an additional 86,000 new jobs. let's talk about it with the former white house chief economist austin goulsby. austin, thanks very much for coming in. what does this jobs report mean to you? >> well, i think it's a good sign. you know when i was in the white house i used to say every month good or bad, you never want to make too much out of any one month's numbers because it's plus or minus 100,000 jobs is the margin of error. so there's a lot of variability. >> what does that mean? >> this is a solid report. >> when you say plus or minus margin of error of 100,000 jobs, in other words if 114,000 jobs were created last month, it really could have 214,000 or it could have been 14,000? >> or 14,000, yeah. and you see that in these revisions where they're going
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back to the previous months where there were 80,000 and then say it was 46,000 more than they thought the first time around. keep that in mind. the three-month average is a lot more accurate statistic than one month's report. look, this is a fairly solid data coming in. and i think over a longer period we've seen moderate progress that's consistent with modest growth in the u.s. and the modest growth in the u.s. in excess of the growth rate in almost the entire advanced world. it's very tough period in the world economy. but it's making some slow progress. i do think it's fairly interesting to compare if the unemployment rate today is the same as it was when the president took office, remember
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what that was, it was horrible. a rate of 7.8% but shooting upward by large amounts every month. so i think it's pretty different comparing the past year to that year. >> and 700,000 jobs or so were being lost every month in that period leading up to his inauguration. that was a really rough time as a lot of us will remember. now, you saw the statement that mitt romney released reacting to these latest jobs numbers. this is not what a real recovery looks like. we've lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since president obama took office. would you call this a real recovery? or do you think he's onto something over here? >> i mean, we're clearly recovering. i mean, since the end of the recession the private sector's added more than 5 million jobs. that said, i think he's right that we're still a long way from
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calling ourselves recovered. i mean, we went way, way down and we're coming back. and we want to be coming back faste faster. i think picking the manufacturing employment numbers is somewhat deliberately trying to shade things because you are combining the losses in the recession with the recoveries in the after recession period. and actually if you look over the last one to two years, manufacturing's having its best two years in several decades during this recovery. >> you know, jack welch, the former ceo of ge, he tweeted this because he didn't believe these numbers. he tweeted "unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate so change numbers." now, there are others who are suggesting there was political influence over the bureau of labor statistics that are driving these numbers, trying to make the president look good
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only a few weeks before the election. you're familiar with the economists, the statisticians who work there. what do you say to these folks who see some conspirator yal involvement out there. >> that's totally, totally insane. i'm friend with jack welch and i tweeted him back. i said, jack, i love you, but on this one you've just flat out lost your mind. there's an ironclad firewall with criminal penalties for anybody at the bls to have any kind of political interference or to release any of the numbers early. it's totally impossible to do that. you've seen all the reputable republicans that have worked with the bureau of labor statistics in the past, past cea chairs come out and say, look, come on, you've got to be kidding on this thing. i kind of think they were kidding. i hope they were kidding. i mean, there's absolutely no
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evidence of political changing the numbers. and if somebody were changing the numbers, why would you make the numbers last month worse than expected? why would you make the payroll numbers at 114,000, not especially impressive. it just doesn't make any sense. >> all right. austan, thanks very much for coming in. >> great to see you again mpkts a check of the top stories and then something that would change the headlines about the obama/romney debate. now calling his 47% remarks completely wrong, but the president never brought up the subject during the debate. what if he would have? n sounds ] ♪ [ watch ticking ] [ engine revs ] come in. ♪ got the coffee. that was fast. we're outta here. ♪
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an american worker is killed after opening fire at a hotel in israel. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what happened, lisa?
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>> american killed a worker in the red city resort. then barricaded himself in the hotel. israeli soldiers later shot and killed the gunman. the man recently had been laid off at his job at that hotel. turkish state television says a syrian mortar shell landed in turkey today drawing an immediate military response. no injuries were reported. on wednesday turkey answered with artillery after a strike killed five civilians inside turkey. meantime, this is video said to be in the syrian city of homs where opposition activists say syrian war planes and artillery pounded the city again today in the worst bombardment in months. and the british government has ordered to the u.s. to face terrorism charges. he and four other men lost their last ditch attempt to stay. the judge says they cannot appeal. here you see new video said to show their convoy leaving a british prison. they may already be on their way out of the country. he is accused in connection with
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the kidnapping of western tourists in yemen and alleged terror training camp in oregon. wolf. >> lisa, thanks very much. mitt romney now says his 47% remarks were "completely wrong." our unsolicited advice panel standing by completely ready to weigh-in. of any small business credit card. your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! ahh, the new fabrics, put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? the spiked heels are working. wait! [ garth ] great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? [ cheers and applause ] and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet.
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[ male announcer ] introducing a reason...to look twice. introducing a stunning work of technology -- the entirely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. mitt romney's now reputuating his comments that 47% of americans see themselves as victims and are dependent on government. imagine what would have happened if, if, he had said that during the debate. >> i said something that's just completely wrong. and i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. >> is he simply trying to move to the middle with just 32 days before the election? >> this is definitely a redirect on the part of the campaign and they're doing it at the right time.
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>> no doubt it's going to come up the next debate. and now romney has a chance to get ahead of that. >> let's get straight to cnn contributor and sirius xm raid you talk show host pete dominick. pete, you have a good panel there. >> yes, wolf. we have a brilliant panel assembled and the governor of montana. [ laughter ] >> i kid. i kid. 47%, he repudiated it. a month later, doesn't matter. i mean, really, after one month the american people have to decide no matter how we all spin it which way or not, the american people decide something he said in private not thinking anybody would hear it now something he says in public on fox news last night, what are we suppose today believe? >> for the most part in politics you don't want to repeat their message. i'm not sure why he's decided to talk about this again. he ought to put it in the rearview mirror -- >> well, he was asked. he was asked about it. >> put it in the rearview mirror and walk forward. to be in a position where he said i was completely wrong and
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was not elegant, i guess, something like that last time. >> well, to borrow your line, it's not the only thing he's repudiated this week. he's repudiated his tax plan. i stole his joke. the problem is it's already burnt in. that line's already burnt in. and the campaigns are using it and advertising around the country right now. the only reason why he would do it is because his pollster's a smart pollster and looking at the numbers and say we have to pull this back and inoculate it quick. >> as a republican i am elated he did it. i think when you said something and recognize it was wrongly said, it's a good thing. i think all of us can identify with that. we've all said something at one point we regret and shouldn't have said. i'm glad mitt romney did that. now we can move on. >> but the same thing, obama's done the same kind of thing. >> but he didn't say that. >> he said it and we've seen it over and over again. you can reinterpret it. he put the reset button on.
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this debate has given new life to his campaign. it's a new race. put this behind him. >> i also like it because of what it indicates. it indicates he now feel very secure with his base, and i think he should. and he's now going towards the independents. and that's a very smart thing to do. >> 30 days out now he's secure with his base. >> i don't know how he can be secure with his base. i saw the debate where he said i want to spend $716 billion more than ryan, more than obama. and what we're hearing from romney is you're trying to cut $716 billion. no, what he's saying is we're going to do the same thing ryan has proposed which we're going to not increase by $716 billion the medicare, we're going to pay the same rates as the states, 45 states pay a medicaid rate for reimbursement lower than medicare. so he said we're going to spend $716 billion more than your plan, obama. and by the way, we're going to spend $2 trillion more on defense. so far romney's saying we're
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going to spend more than democrats. >> and no revenue. >> let me tell you how we know he's secure with his debate. debate night he talked about romney care, the plan he passed in massachusetts and the next day he went to sea pack and got a hero's welcome. guys, the base is okay. >> the counties in this country with the highest percent of medicare recipient are republican counties. of the 47% he talks about, romney will get half of them. >> 47% don't know they're in that 47%. >> they don't identify themselves as victims. >> right. >> congressman, the problem is the margin republicans ran with seniors in '08, that margin is shrinking right now. that's really problematic for states like florida. >> bottom line is politics is perception. people when they hear a politician say something in private like that, you can't really walk it back. you can't walk it back a month later. there's another number though that came out today, we're talking 47%. and that is 7.8%. can we quickly all agree that any -- the new term is
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unemployment bertherism. this is not helping, is it? mitt romney, anybody denying saying the department labor infiltrated -- jack welch, put a fork in him. that guy is done. not that it'd get through his old leathery skin. >> for the record, 7.8% was the unemployment rate when he took office. >> no, it's never been, has it? >> but here's the problem, congressman, when he put his hand on that bible on that very cold day, we were losing 700,000, 800,000 jobs a month. right now for republicans to talk down sort of what we've been doing -- >> unemployment rate is the same. he has not brought it down. >> we are in the midst of a great depression, congressman. can't pretend that didn't happen. >> unemployment rates should not have a party label. as americans we should all be celebrating that the unemployment rate has gone down for you. >> good for you. >> if this is going to restore consumer confidence, going to
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lead us into a better quota next year, good for this country. we can all deal with this past november 6th. but right now i'm celebrating. period. >> it isn't anywhere we want it to be. >> no. president -- candidate barack obama promised four years ago, no. but is it better than where we've been for 40 months, yes, as an american i'm celebrating. >> if you're running for office, you want to be on the uptick. you don't want to be going the other way. as long as it's going in the right direction, people are feeling better about themselves. this is good news for obama. and it's good news for america. >> just look at the narrative. wednesday night liberals and democrats were apocalyptic. and today friday these job numbers come out and then you have romney driving the day from what he said last night on fox news repudiating the 47%. and president obama giving two big speeches today, rallies, and he's bouncing up on stage and he's got all kinds of new lines and so on.
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>> but you guys, you know, as fools gold, you act like one debate is going to change the fundamental dynamics of this race. they were pretty set in beforehand and seldom if ever in history one debate is going to change the fundamental dynamics of a race. >> one may not, but two may. >> but romney needed a good debate. >> absolutely. >> romney needed it and the press needed. a race is good for the press. >> that's true. >> and that's good for america. >> it's good for america. >> we should all be heavily courted. i'm happy we've got a race on our hands. >> i bet you are heavily courted. [ laughter ] >> we've heard so many boxing metaphors which always are applicable when we're talking debates one-on-one of course. barack obama is a competitive guy. there's no way he can't come back and figure this out -- >> i don't want to use shopping metaphors, i don't think sports metaphors, you lose me in all that. >> because men are not supposed to like to shop, right, governor? nice tie. you like my jacket?
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>> if romney could pull one thing back which would be more than the 47%, he went the wrong direction in the auto industry. that's going to kill him in ohio. >> there's also things i think president obama would like to pull back. >> all of us. >> same with latinos, he'd like to pull back having offered he was going to do immigration reform in the first year a promise that he's broken. >> but, you know what, he's doing pretty good with -- he's pushing the dream act, a lot of things favorable to the hispanic community. guys, it's just math. right now in the polling obama's at 70% with hispanics. you and i both know republican party long-term cannot be a sustainable party if they're losing hispanic -- >> what would the numbers be if jeb bush was the candidate? >> you're absolutely right. >> let us not forget that just one president removed we had a republican in the white house with 44% of hispanic vote. >> that was part of the tea party. >> if the dream act was so
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important, where was he the first two years when he had super majority in congress. >> he was trying to get the unemployment rate to 7.8%. >> we can go back and look at that and who tried hard and what stood in what person's way and talk about it. right now we have to take a quick break. and when we come back everybody on the panel will give some unsuspecting target some unsolicited advice right in a moment. stay right here on cnn. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.
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all right. we're back here with our unsolicited advice segment in "the situation room" and our brilliant panel. i got to tell you what happened during the break. the governor of montana just
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suggested that maybe you trade places with the wardrobe. >> yeah. i want a tie. >> we're going to mix it up a little bit. >> you're going to wear that suit and he's going to wear your tie. >> and my unsolicited advice was, don't. >> all right. cornell, you're unsolicited advice. >> i'm going to pick up on something ana was talking about earlier. to jack welch and some of the other republicans and even romney says this is not a recovery, you know, 31 straight months of job growth, you know, 5.3 million jobs created, you know, when the president took office we were on the cusp of going over the deep end. we're now pulling that back under the president's leadership. and the hard work of the american people. don't talk down these numbers. let's raise these numbers up and praise the hard work of the american people and the resilience of the american people. the american people have built this economic recovery. don't tear that down. they built this. >> but it's one thing to talk -- >> you like that we built that
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thing? >> it's one thing -- hold on, it's one thing. both sides do it. both sides spin numbers. but what jack welch and allen west and others have said that the books were being cooked. and that -- there's no place for that kind of trutherism, and it also ruins the argument if you ever want to cite job numbers for or against, you can't. they come from the same place. >> listen, the books are being cooked. the question is what took them so long. >> you should cook them a little better than that. 114,000 is not exactly a masterpiece sdpl you're going to need more than a tinfoil hat to convince america. >> congressman, that kind of conspiracy talk coming from people like jack welch and congressman allen, that hurts mitt romney. that's not good to have in the news cycle. >> well, i don't know what it does. >> can't be good. >> there's no evidence for it except for suspicions at this point. and you have next month's report coming too. puts a lot of pressure on next
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month's reports. >> he himself his campaign has had nothing to do with these. and let me tell you, there are conspiracy theorists on both sides of the aisle. >> congressman, what do you got for us? >> first of all, jobs report was encouraging as americans. but growth last quarter was 1.3%, which is anemic. but i'm going jobs, national hockey league is still on strike. we just had our nationals in the playoffs, going to go to the world series this year. but when that's over, what are we going to do here? you've got the vendors, the ushers, the -- >> the bars. >> exactly. this is an economic killer. these guys are all 1%ers. they're going to lose more money arguing this than would cutting some kind of deal. >> the owners or players? >> both of them. >> bipartisan. >> think outside the bun here. >> all right. my unsolicited advice is simple, it is for the former president, bill clinton. it is simply this, get out there. get on the trail, sir. i think he's going to be out
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there next week. bill clinton should be out there every single day. i don't know what the dynamic is currently between him and the president -- >> it's wonderful. he's advertising for the obama campaign. >> you know what, maybe president obama needs to change debate partners. maybe he needs to go practice with bill clinton. john kerry is not cutting it. >> he should have bill clinton in his ear the whole time the explainer in chief. i think if bill clinton, i think he should probably bring big bird with him. >> didn't big bird get fired? >> big bird, get a safe house. do it now. >> the bromance lasts until november. >> my advice is for joe biden. do not try to overwhen sate by going in there charging like the bulls of pam plo na in your debate. the only thing that may be worse than an overly passive barack obama is an overly aggressive joe biden. >> a bull in a china shop maybe.
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>> maybe. listen, if he's hard to control when he's on script, just imagine him unscripted in a debate. >> but the american people still like him. >> yeah. >> still like him. >> he's a likable guy. >> he's a regular joe. >> i think all republicans should love him because he is the gift that keeps on giving. >> so is paul ryan to some extent. go ahead, governor. >> it's been exactly one year since steve jobs passing. and my unsolicited advice today is for all of the mavericks in america, all the people that walked against the crowd, all the people who disagree with everybody in the room, everybody in a classroom that says i don't agree with what's going on here today, the mavericks have made america great. if we lose our mavericks, we lose our edge. this is unsolicited advice for the mavericks, you keep it up. >> are there mavericks out there today? always hear about steve jobs. >> are they in montana? >> actually more coming to montana. and we have our own to begin with. >> he's a maverick in and of
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himself. he really is. >> this is what is different about america. we actually revere the mavericks. if you go everywhere else in the world, they doept. they wonder what's wrong with that person not conforming. we like the nonconformists. >> and we can start great businesses out of a garage. >> and john mccain the maverick probably would have done better in the presidential race. >> absolutely. i was just going to say that. you bring up mavericks, i'm not going to say it's easy. it's not easy to be a maverick. there's not that many. steve jobs, we always cite him. but where are the mavericks in this town? there are very few people who go out and speak against the party line. that's got to change. >> these parties are in boxes right now. you're a red shirt, blue shirt, you wear another shirt you're out in the primary. >> you were there. >> exactly. you got some disciplining factors now. >> the matters of politics are all on tv. >> if it keeps up, we will have a third party candidate as president of the united states. if these two parties keep going to their ring and won't talk to
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each other, we're going to have a third party president. >> but the american people have a role in this too. if you're supporting a candidate who goes to congress and says i'm going to vote against republicans or whatever party is, you can have a member of congress say i'm going to sign and i'm going to be locked into that, don't vote for that person for congress because that person is part of the problem that makes you -- >> cornell, the problem is congress has a 13% approval rating. everybody likes their congressman. politics is local. >> the problem is members now worry about primary elections. >> i think we are all to some extent at one point or another today mavericks on this panel. thanks very much for joining us. throw it back to wolf blitzer right now. pete, thanks very much. we have new details coming into "the situation room" on the shooting that killed a u.s. border patrol agent in arizona. could it have been an accident? standby, we're checking the top stories. we'll be right back. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up.
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we're following new developments about the shooting that killed a u.s. border agent in arizona. lisa sylvester is back. she's monitoring that, some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what are we learning? >> hi there, wolf. well, cnn has learned that the fbi is looking into the possibility that the shooting was a result of friendly fire. one agent died and another was injured tuesday when they came under fire after responding to a border sensor. a law enforcement official says investigators are waiting for the results of ballistic tests on shell casings which may have been fired by border patrol agents. and a well-known cuban blogger has been arrested and two others reportedly detained in the eastern city covering a trial of a spanish politician charged in the death of a prominent
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dissident. a pro-government blogger accuses of putting on a media trial. the federal government posted more than a $1 trillion deficit in the last fiscal year according to new estimates by the congressional budget office. that makes the fourth straight year of trillion dollar shortfalls. the total national debt now tops $16 trillion. and the curiosity rover is preparing to scoop up soil samples on the red planet. beginning tomorrow the curiosity will use the robotic scoop to dig into the ground on mars. scientists will use the sandy soil to scrub the hardware clean. and that should clear the way for future testing of sediment to see if life possibly once existed on mars. i know a lot of people are fascinated by this. so we're going to see what comes of those soil samples, wolf. >> i'm looking forward to it. >> me too. coming up, some late-night comedy it's getting political. >> president obama said the one thing about being president is learning to say no.
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responsibility. what's your policy? ...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. the first presidential debate is now in the books and provided plenty of punch lines for the late night comedians as well. take a look. >> say what you will about mitt romney. last night i thought he was energet energetic, he was crisp, he was dynamic. what have you done with the real mitt romney? where is he? >> say close to 60 million people may have watched the debatd. i think the only person who didn't tune in was president obama. what happened? >> there was a coin toss to see which candidate would speak first.
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there was an awkward moment just before the coin toss when romney asked, what's that shiny little disk you're holding? >> that's right. romney was the big winner last night. and in case you missed his performance, we boiled it down to just the best parts here. take a look. >> big bird grabbed my arm and said i'm coming for you, rich guy. >> romney won with the sound up. >> you're entitled as president to your own airplane and your own house, but not your own facts. >> dude, he's yelling at you. look up. look up. what are you looking at? what are you writing that's so important? what are you doing -- oh, that is impressive work. i didn't realize that. >> romney talked last night about cutting funding to pbs, the home of sesame street. and big bird was not happy. did you see what big bird did to romney's car right after the debate? show what happened.
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look at that. that's unbelievable. that is unbelievable. he is not happy. he is not happy. >> of course obama and romney differed on many subjects throughout the debate. there was one moment where they really came together in perfect harmony. check it out. [ laughter ] and you're in "the situation room." happening now, obama 2.0 smiling, laughing, energized the president's dramatic turnaround from his lackluster debate performance. mitt romney is now admitting his
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controversial remark about those 47%. he now says that was 100% wrong. and the latest computer scam, hackers holding your vital data for ransom. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." the obama supporters turned out to see the president in cleveland today may have wondered where was this guy on wednesday night. today the president was all fired up. he was punching away at his rival mitt romney. and that was a stark contrast to his rather tepid showing in the first presidential debate. our white house correspondent dan lothian is in cleveland traveling with the president. saw a very different president once again today as opposed to the debate, dan.
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>> reporter: we really did. not only here in ohio where the president spoke during a heavy downpour, but on an earlier stop as well in virginia. the campaign says this is a deliberate attempt to counter some of what they believe were false claims made during the debate. this is the president that most people agree didn't show up on debate night. animated, forceful and taking shots at his gop opponent. >> governor romney said he'd get rid of planned parenthood funding. apparently this along with bid bird is driving the deficits. >> reporter: campaign rallies and presidential debates are two completely different events. but the contrast in body language and policy sales pitch is hard to overlook. zingers are back. >> now, my opponent has been trying to do a two-step and reposition and got an extreme makeover. governor romney was fact checked by his own campaign.
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>> reporter: and so is talk about governor romney's 47% fundraiser which never came up at the debate. >> we've always said real change takes time. it certainly can happen if you're willing to write off half the nation before you even take office. >> reporter: democrats and other supporters argue while the president may have lost the debate on performance. >> no question about it i think he was listless. >> reporter: he won on substance. but his gop opponent campaigning in virginia begs to differ. >> i got a chance to ask the president some questions i think people across the country want today ask the president. i got to ask him why the middle class so buried in this country, incomes have gone down, prices of gasoline have doubled -- >> reporter: either way the post debate president appears to have emerged with new intensity and the campaign admits they'll be using a different playbook for the next face-to-face encould wanter with governor romney. >> what could the president have done differently? we'll of course recalibrate and recalculate based on the mitt
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romney that showed up. >> reporter: now, back to that 47% fund raising comment. mitt romney now says that was completely wrong. but the president as he was wrapping up his comments here in ohio today took one more shot saying he wants to be president of all americans. and he singled out independents, republicans and the tea party. wolf. >> is he going to be doing more practicing leading up to the next debate? have we got any inside word on that yet, dan? >> reporter: he will. and there will be more of those boot camps we saw leading up to the first debate. as you know, wolf, they did not give us a lot of details how that all worked, what was going on behind the scenes. but i think it's safe to say their approach going into the next debate will be much more aggressive. >> it should be. all right. thanks very much, dan, for that. an unemployment surprise that could impact the race for the white house. the labor department reporting today that the jobless rate fell to 7.8% last month. that's the lowest level since president obama took office. and hiring was stronger than originally reported throughout the summer. our chief national correspondent john king is joining us now.
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john, take us inside these new numbers. >> wolf, no question that the headline, the lower rate, some job growth last month encouraging for the president as we get close to the election. there's a lot of data that makes you suggest this is still a tough recovery, but this is the united states unemployment rate during the obama presidency. you see now when you track it all out, up above 10% at one point, we are now exactly at the same point we were when the president took office. that's encouraging for the white house. of course they wish it were lower, but below 8%. that's something the president and governor romney have talked about for some time. so that's the national situation. one more report just before the election that the rate now has dipped just pe low 8%. now, that's nationally. of course we pick presidents state by state. come over here and look at what we want to watch for next is new data from the states especially the battleground states. because in some of the key battleground states the rate has gone down and that has helped the president. still high, this above the national average in florida. 5.5% in iowa. 7.2% in ohio. you see virginia and wisconsin. but in all of these states the rate has dropped during the obama presidency.
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not a coincidence, wolf tharks in all of these states the president has had, we'll see new post debate polls but before the race the president was leading a little in each of those states. other battleground states as well, those we'll see state number two. the obama campaign will celebrate this new national number. here's the key question heading into the battleground states, in colorado where the race has gone up, nevada where it's gone up, essentially flat in new hampshire and north carolina, how does this new national number no question good for the president play out in those states? >> john, both candidates obviously reacting to the jobs report today. governor romney saying this isn't a real recovery. we need more job growth. that's what he says. the president says it's a reminder that the country has come very far so far and he's not going to be turning back. so who's right? >> again, it depends on your perspective. the job growth is not as robust as either candidate would like. you need essentially 150,000, some economists say close to 200,000 jobs a month to keep a flat line and begin to turn the
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rate down more. look at some of the other data. if you look here's job creation. remember, this is the end of the bush administration, early obama administration, the economy was bleeding jobs. 800,000 jobs a month at one point. spurt a growth, back down again. this is what the president says, no, it's not as robust as i would like, but look at this. look at this. since 2010 the economy has been adding jobs including 114,000 in september. that's what the president would say. governor romney says that's not enough. and with less regulation, lower taxes, other pro-business incentives you could create more. last month, health care jobs up, transportation jobs up. this one, wolf, in a report largely encouraging for the president, this is a bit discouraging, manufacturing jobs are down. if you look at the history of manufacturing in the obama presidency, again, you have the huge drop early on and a bit of a recovery since. but manufacturing jobs are still down from the beginning of the obama presidency. let me walk back over to this map for a second. that does matter in places like, the battleground states as well as anyone, ohio's a battleground, iowa's a
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battleground, in the midwestern industrial states where manufacturing has taken a hit, again, the good national number may not be received quite as well there when they see manufacturing is again bleeding jobs. >> we're going to be getting one more jobs report before the election. happens to be the friday before november 6th. what do you think? do you think this last unemployment rate could have a significant impact on voters? >> if there's a big swing one way or the other. most top strategists, top pollsters will tell you voters by now if not even a couple weeks ago have made their psychological decision about their own personal take on the economy, is it getting better? is the president responsible for anything good? responsible for anything bad? if the rate were to drop significantly or the job growth to drop dramatically, could have a last-minute impact on the group f undecided. most people are starting to settle in on what they think about the economy and these candidates by now. >> a lot more people voting early now than ever before. so their decisions will be made up before that final report comes out, john.
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thanks very much. there's more to the jobs numbers than actually meets the eye. some of the president's critics now saying much, much more. they are alleging that the figures were potentially manipulated for political gain to help the president. lisa sylvester's been looking into these charges for us. tell our viewers how this works and what's going on. >> well, wolf, you know the first friday of every month everyone waits for the jobs report to come out. and there are actually two things people will focus on, the jobs number. that is how many jobs were added in the last month. and the unemployment rate number. but here's what you may not know. those two are actually based on two separate surveys. and there are often disparities between the two. the labor department has a bureau that every month asks 400,000 businesses and all kinds of fields from retail to manufacturing to hotel services from all around the country how many people are on your payroll? that number is reported as the payroll survey on the first friday of every month.
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that's what we usually call the jobs number. in september 114,000 payroll jobs were added. but there is another survey also done. this one from the census bureau. about 60,000 households are phoned every month and asked among other things, are you working. in september a whopping 873,000 more people reported working than the month before. that's a big number. and that household report pushed the unemployment rate down from 8.1% to 7.8%. that's a strong jobs showing. good news for the white house. but some nay sayers are wondering if it's too good to be true. jack welch, general electric former ceo tweeting this "unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate so change numbers." and the group americans for limited government has suggested maybe someone tinkered with the numbers. >> very convenient timing for the president. if he mapped it out to be able to have it, this would be when
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you'd want to have it. he's facing 43 straight months of 8% plus unemployment. the longest time in the history since the great depression. and now to be able to break that streak with this report is convenient. >> reporter: but that's simply not the case. first, the labor department and the bureau of labor statistics scoff at any notion that someone manipulated the jobs report. >> it's collected by about 2,000 interviewers who are all career federal employees. and so you'd have to imagine that the people who participate in the survey, and they do this voluntarily, are for some reason trying to manipulate things where somehow you've gotten 2,000 federal employees to go along with something. >> reporter: and it's not unusual for the two surveys, one based on asking companies and the other based on asking individuals, to have wide disparities. why? the household number that shows a gain of 873,000 new workers includes all kinds of workers including self-employed and certain agriculture workers. and it's based on a much smaller
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sample than the survey of businesses. keith hall is a former commissioner of the bureau of labor statistics. he says the numbers can vary widely. >> i understand people's frustrations and suspicion when the unemployment rate goes downright before an election. but in reality, all the federal statistical agencies including the bureau of labor statistics, they're independent agencies. they have a long tradition of being very professional and very nonpolitical. >> reporter: to change the report, well, that would be a crime. and also very difficult to do. the economic policy institute, a liberal think tank, calls the whole notion outrageous. >> the notion that bls is manipulating these numbers for political reasons is outrageous and totally implausible. >> one thing we did see was the big jump in employed workers. a number of them are actually part-time workers. you can debate based on that is the economy really turning around? but you certainly can't dispute the raw number that shows the
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unemployment rate came down to 7.8%, wolf. >> don't blame the messenger. the bureau of labor statistics, these are career statisticians, they know what they're doing. they are really, really above way beyond politics. >> yeah, wolf, i fwot to fell you. i've been in those lockouts when they put those numbers out, and it is very hard to even imagine a scenario where some information could have been leaked out. they would have had to have gotten the numbers first and then changed the numbers. and it's just so hard to even imagine that because they take those lockups very seriously. >> they're career servants, not political appointees. thanks very much. a major increase in the number of cases of people who have come down with meningitis from a tainted batch of steroids. we're going to go to one clinic that gave out hundreds of injections. our own brian todd is on the scene. and jim lehrer answering his critics of his performance as the moderator of the first presidential debate. what he told cnn's howard curt. introducing zzzquil sleep-aid.
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and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district.
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the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again.
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there's a big jump in the number of meningitis cases from tainted medication. five people already have died. now 47 people in seven states have come down with the disease after being injected with contaminated steroids. but 17,000 vials of that steroid have been shipped to doctors offices in half the country including maryland. that's where cnn's brian todd is right now. brian, what's going on where you are? >> reporter: well, wolf, here in maryland there have been two confirmed cases of fungal meningitis related to a contaminated steroid, a steroid contaminated with fungus injected into patients for back pain. one person in this state has died, but this is an outbreak growing across the country. just a week after getting a steroid injection she thought would help her, janet russell is in intensive care at a tennessee hospital. that tainted injection might well have given her meningitis. her family is more than just
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concerned. >> of course we're just worried sick is the main thing. >> this doesn't happen in america. i mean, this doesn't -- i mean, i hope that doesn't sound -- but you're just thinking, this is something that it's not even real. >> their mom's more than one of two dozen people in tennessee and dozens more in at least seven states believed to be victims of an outbreak of fungal meningitis from bad steroids. some have died. meningitis is an inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. health officials believe the victims in this case got it from a tainted batch of this steroid injected into the spinal column to treat back pain. in maryland a state where hundreds of people could have been exposed, we went to clinics known to have received shipments of the steroid. at this center in bel aire. >> the ones we've talked to have all been fine. hopefully they'll continue to be fine. they say symptoms could take a while to show up. >> reporter: but other clinics
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here could have a bigger problem. an administrator at the green spring surgery center at this center in baltimore did not want to go on camera but told us they had 300 patients that got injections of that drug. they are working with federal and local officials to investigate the case. they have contacted all 300 of those patients, the ones who have had mild symptoms, he says, they have urged to get checked. the administrator says they have no confirmed cases of meningitis for people from this facility who got the drug. he did say they are disappointed in the drug manufacturer and that that manufacturer put patients at risk. the manufacturer is the new england compounding center in framingham, massachusetts. in a statement to cnn, the company says it has recalled that steroid, is working with health officials in the investigation and has shut down temporarily. "the thoughts and prayers of everyone employed by the necc are with those who have been afked." as for this form of meningitis, how dangerous is this? is this very contagious?
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>> so this type of meningitis is not believed to be transmissable to person to person. so we are reaching out to people who have been exposed to the contaminated product and those should be people looking for symptoms and signs of meningitis. >> reporter: and those symptoms include fever, chills, headaches, stiff necks and unlike patients who have other forms of meningitis, they can even get small strokes. officials here and elsewhere trying to get the word out to as many people who could have taken this steroid. they are very concerned that this outbreak could grow very significantly in the days ahead, wolf. >> do they know, brian, how these doses got tainted? >> reporter: you know, wolf, they really do not know at this point. and one of the key reasons they don't know is they can't even identify the fungus right now. that's going to be one of the first things they'll try to identify. and then they'll try to get at the causes. right now they're just trying to identify what that fungus is. >> brian todd in baltimore for us. thanks very much. american airlines has an explanation for seats suddenly coming loose. and it may have something to do
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with you, the passenger. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." . i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪
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protests breaking out in jordan. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other stories happening in "the situation room" right now. >> gathering downtown demanding political change comes less than a day after king abdullah called for early elections near the end of the year. many people believe the country's economy is hurting and unemployment is too high. protesters say the king has made some changes but hasn't done enough. and american airlines now says the reason some of its seats have been coming loose may
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be because of its travelers. according to a company spokeswoman, passengers spilling soda and coffee have "gunked up the seat locking mechanism over time." initially the airline said it appeared a clamp was improperly installed. a major peanut butter recall announced a couple weeks ago is now expanding. according to the fda it now includes products manufactured by sunland incorporated dating as far back as 2010. health officials have established a firm link to a salmonella outbreak. the cdc reports the number of people sickened has jumped from 30 to 35 in the last week. and we all know this, golf is tough enough as it is. but when you take away the ball, there's not much you can do. that's what happened to paul casey whose tournament was interrupted when a dog ran on to the green then raced off with his ball. hate it when that happens. luckily a spectator was able to retrieve it and the game went
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on. give that ball back. >> can't they just replace the ball? >> you would think so. maybe it's a lucky ball or something. but they got it back. and the game continued on probably a little slobbery. >> do you play golf? >> i don't. i'm not a golfer. what about you? >> no. too young. some day. >> that's right. one of these days, right? mitt romney walking back his infamous 47% remarks now calling them 100% wrong. but is it a gamble on the heels of such a big debate win? we'll discuss. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long.
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for weeks mitt romney has been getting a lot of slack for those now infamous 47% remarks. but it's not until now that he's actually saying they were flat out wrong. listen to the original comments he made at a closed door fund raising dinner in may in bo boca raton, florida, and how the response evolved in the days and weeks since they first surfaced.
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>> 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. there are 47% who are with him, who depend on government who believe they are victims, who believes the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who believe they're entitled to health care, food, housing, you name it. it's not elegantly stated, let me put it that way. i'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question. the president's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because, frankly, my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them. i recognize that those people who are not paying income tax are going to say, gosh, this provision that mitt keeps talking about lowering income taxes, that's not going to be real attractive to them. and those dependent upon government and those that think government's job is to redistribute them, i'm not going to get them. >> the question in this campaign is not who cares about the poor and the middle class. i do. he does. the question is who can help the poor and the middle class?
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i can. he can't. he's proven it in four years. in this case i've said something that's just completely wrong. and i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. and that's been demonstrated throughout my life. and this whole campaign is about the 100%. >> all right. let's discuss what we just heard in our strategy session. joining us our cnn political contributors roland martin and republican strategist mary matalin. mary, i remember the day after you came on, how do you feel now he's backed away from them completely? >> he's backed away from the complete and utter and despicable distortion of his clear meaning. it does not -- the distortion is that he doesn't care about people which does not comport with his personal life. he gives 20% to 30% of his annually to charity. and in massachusetts he balanced the budget, provided a surplus,
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which resulted in an explosion of jobs. so to say he doesn't care or he doesn't want to get this economy growing, it's a tentative conservatism. it's a tenant, the main tenant of his policies that these 23 million people are still out of work. and one out of every six americans is in poverty, it is not kind, it is not compassionate to keep those people in poverty, to keep this economy growing at 1.3%. that's what he was saying. that's what he meant. it's been distorted to say he doesn't care. i'm still defend him to the end about what he really meant. >> but maybe what he meant, but he does say -- i'll bring roland in in a minute, but what he actually said last night to sean hannity is the way the words came out of his mouth, not the way they were interpreted, but the words actually came out of his mouth he said were completely wrong. he basically apologized for what
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he said. he said he'd given a thousand speeches, thousands of interviews. in this particular case what he said was completely wrong. he wasn't blaming the interpretation. >> uh-huh. >> roland, may i? >> that question was for you. it wasn't for me. >> okay. you would have to be distortionist or ignore ray mouse to not understand what he was saying. obama consistently gets 47% in the polls. and he con flaeted that with the philosophical fact is it better for people to be taxpayers or to be -- have government -- to depend on government. it would have to be distorted. if he con flated those two things and you didn't understand what he was saying and that was a room full of people who clearly understood what he was saying, the reason the president has to keep talking about is because he cannot run on his record where 23 million people cannot get jobs.
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where one out of six people live in poverty. where the cost of everything is going up from health care premiums that he promised would go down to energy. and the value of life savings has been depleted. the obama recovery is worse than the bush recession. median incomes have declined at twice the rate in the obama recovery. >> wolf, the reason you hear mary having to struggle to explain what we know exactly what mitt romney said is because she's trying to get away from what he actually said. the fact that he had to sit there and say i was wrong is an admission that he has been hurt by those particular comments. now, we can sit here and try to, oh, let me explain or interpret what he said. i heard him very clearly. i think mitt romney's very smart. he's very clear. he mixed nothing up. and the reason he had to apologize is because he knew it has been hurting him. he knew it hurt his campaign. and the bottom line is there are
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many people who are supporters of his who are in the 47%. so i say, mary, no need to have to explain mitt romney away. we call the wobble and that's what you're doing right now. just say, mitt, you screwed up. >> no, roland. i'm not going to say that. >> he did. >> i'm going to say you would have to be either hate romney or be an ig no ramous. it's our money they're supposed to be returning to us for our retirement securities. he was not including that. >> so this guy -- >> how about you're so smart you didn't build it. the private economy's doing fine. >> mary, here's the deal. i don't jump these boxes back and forth. the president is also your president. he's all of our president. the bottom lies here, if i'm listening to a guy who ran bain capital who's extremely smart and can run the numbers and very articulate who can break these issues down, i take him at his word.
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when i watched that video, it was all clarity. bottom line he was wrong. he said it himself. so you don't have to explain it because he gave you an out. he admitted he was wrong. no need to go back to try, oh, let me fix it all up. no need. he messed up. he screwed up. >> all right. i think we've exhausted this part of the conversation. but a quick question, roland, to you. why didn't the president of the united states in the debate bring up the 47% comment? because if he would have, i suspect mitt romney would have said that night what he said to sean hannity last night, that it was a screw up, he shouldn't have said it. he was completely wrong. and if he would have said that in the debate, that would have changed so much of the coverage, so much of the analysis, the fallout from that. >> got me. look, i don't know why the president didn't ask mitt romney why the republicans in the senate blocked the veterans bill providing jobs for veterans when they have extremely high unemployment rate as well. it's a whole bunch of stuff the president frankly didn't bring up. i don't know why he didn't bring that up. i guess they chose not to do so.
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i think it was a mistake. i also think it was a mistake that neither candidate had a substantive conversation about poverty in this country and what's happening to people who are in middle class who don't want to be in poverty but recognize with the tough economy when losing those 3.47 million jobs between july 2008 and the inauguration still has had an impact on our economy. so we can say a whole bunch of stuff should have been brought up. i don't know why. mitt has apologized. we'll see what's next. >> mary, one quick response from you. what if mitt romney would have said during the debate what he said to sean hannity last night? what would have been the fallout for him saying he was completely wrong in talking about the 47% the way he did? >> the articulation of inflating a particular number with the policy prescription to get people off of the dependence on the government into the job market is completely comports with his philosophy, with the growth economy.
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it is this president who doesn't care about people. >> oh, yes, he does. mary, stop. he cares about the people who doept have health care. >> really? >> he cares about the people with pre-existing conditions. he cares about the people, mary, sitting there going to the emergency rooms because they doept have health care. the fact of the matter he does. you simply disagree with him on some pollties, but he does care. >> no. on all policies. this is the worst recovery in the history of this country. >> all of them? mary, i'm sorry your former boss left it that way. and he's a fellow texan, but unfortunately he did. it was screwed up when he walked in. >> mary, roland, unfortunately we're up against the clock. we have to leave it there. >> appreciate it, wolf. >> we'll continue this conversation down the road. >> any time. thank you. valuable data held hostage by hackers. details of the latest computer scam. ransomware. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪
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it's like a digital form of kidnapping. your computer data held for ransom by hackers using a sophisticated new scam known as ransomware. cnn's silicon valley correspondent dan simon is looking into it for us. >> reporter: steve merryfield owns a high-end sporting goods shop. after 27 years in business, he'd been preparing to sell it. all the records for potential buyers stored on his computer server. so he was more than concerned when he realized all his data had been frozen. >> the last words i remember is, this is not good. this is not good. >> reporter: it turned out hackers had taken control of his machine and flashed a message. for $3,000 he could have his
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data back. but it didn't stop there. he'd have to fork over an additional $1,000 for each week he didn't comply. he'd become a victim of what's being called ransomware. had you ever heard the term rans ransomware before? >> no. i can say that it's, you know, appropriately named. you feel victimized. you feel helpless. >> reporter: ransomware is becoming so pervasive that it prompted the fbi to put out a warning. the bureau says it's getting dozens of complaints each day. >> it's one of the more destructive pieces of malware. they'll encrypt the files and if you don't pay, they'll delete them. >> reporter: bruce with the security firm mcafee says they use such sophisticated methods that it's virtually impossible to get back your records. one reason some apparently fall for the scam is the messages like like they're from the
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government accusing users of things like child pornography. >> it frightens people and kind of preys on their fear. >> in retrospect, the amount of grief that this will cause us would have been well worth the ransom, but that wasn't the approach we took. >> reporter: steve never did pay the ransom. nor did he get his data back even after taking his computer to some of the best experts in the industry. >> after ten days of diligence, they regret to inform me that this they cannot recover the data. this has been unique. >> reporter: well, it's believed some of these hackers are making $50,000 to $60,000 a day by targeting certain countries. wolf, the fbi says under no circumstances should you give these hackers any money even if you're in a desperate situation. it's always a good reminder of course to back up your data and be careful what you click on. wolf. >> excellent advice, dan.
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thanks very, very much. the debate moderator, jim lehrer, is speaking out about the negative reviews of his performance wednesday night. up next, what he's now telling our own howard kurtz. so... [ gasps ] these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve,
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president obama wasn't the only one to get some bad reviews for this week's debate performance. there were also some questions about the moderator, jim lehrer, watch this. >> mr. romney, do you have a question you would like to ask the president directly about something he just said? >> jim, the president began this segment, so i think i get the last word. >> you're going to get the first word in the next segment. >> but he gets the first word of
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that segment, i get the last word -- >> here's a specific. >> mention the other one, let's talk the big one. >> no, let's not. >> two minutes is up, sir. >> i think i had five seconds before you interrupted me was -- >> i sometimes wonder if we even need a moderator because we had mitt romney. we should rethink that for the next debate. >> joining us now two journalists from the website dailydownload.com. lauren is the site's founder, editor and chief also former managing editor "usa today" howie is host of cnn's "reliable sources" and washington bureau chief for "newsweek" magazine. he said, this is jim lehrer, part of my moderator position was to stay out of the way of the flow and i had no problems with doing so. my only personal frustration was discovering 90 minutes was not enough time in that more open format to cover every issue that deserved attention. now, what do you think of all the criticism he's been getting? >> well, let's just talk about
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what was on twitter, that let's not comment he made was the most tweeted of the entire night through the entire 90 minutes. and i think people were really looking to him to stop the romney bulldozing. and he might not have done that as much as some people would have like. >> howie, what did you think? >> i talked to jim lehrer, and he said, yes, he was frustrated at times that the candidates kept running through the stop signs and could have done a tighter job of reigning in the president and former governor, but jim lehrer wanted this to be about the candidates and not about him. he said this was a new format in which the candidates weren't tightly restricted to 90-second responses to a 60-second answer, he wanted to let them make the case, he wanted them to challenge each other. there were times when i thought he could have jumped in with a follow-up and said, yes, you said this six months ago. he said he would do that on his pbs show as an interview, not as a moderator.
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>> i think he should have set that up. nobody knew that's what he was doing. if that was the way he decided to change the debate, maybe at the top he could have said, we're going to do something different and here's what it is. and i think that might have tempered some of the criticism. >> i think what would have worked better if tempered the criticism. >> i think it would have been better if they were at a table together, and with jim so far below, it's hard to control a debate like that. when you're around a table, you can have an discussion, an interchange, and the moderator can use body language and move it along. i want you to listened to what candy crowley said about this. >> in the end, this debate is, you know, brought to you by these candidates. and to me, it's better to hear from the candidates than to hear from the moderator.
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i think jim is one of those always very intent on trying to get the two of them to talk to one another to explore those differences. >> that's his history. he goes way back i think to the '80s. he wanted to be part of the conversation, not criticized, but it doesn't go in his nature. he wanted them to debate. >> right, and i think maybe some of the criticism was misplaced. i also believe that with the roll of social media now, it's such that those one liners and zingers are what really drive the conversation now, so the lets not moment, i get five more seconds, it's what people on twitter and facebook are talking about. i think that because of that, that's what the media cover, and that's what becomes the reality of what's happened. >> that's where i'm disappointed
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in the media's performance. it's political theater, and the president looking down is all part of the story. it's our responsibility, and with some exceptions, i haven't seen enough of this, to deal with was romney walking away or moving away from his tax plan. did the president exaggerate the number of jobs he created. there has been some fact checks, but it seems to me the focus has been on the clash, the styles, and much less on what was a very substantive debate. >> the social media role was fascinati fascinating. i remember watching debates before social media, and you hear what four or five people think. now you're listening to the 90 minutes, but in the process you're reading all of these other tweets coming in from pun don
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pundants, and it plays a role in what they will be saying after the debate. it's not just a very small group of people in a room, but maybe now 1,000 people that your following. >> it becomes group think at that point. you talk about pack journalism, but this is the mass market equivalent of that. there were 10.3 million tweets in that 90 minutes. that was more than the entire democratic national convention. so not only is social media beginning to drive, but it is really taking off from this point. >> and not only are you not waiting for realtime, but there were a lot of tweets about medicare. so you really get a real-time snapshot, and people don't need a television or a printing
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press. >> and the google search terms. the top google search terms, simpson bowles was one of them, everyone is now two or three screening it, you're not just watching the debate. >> the nature of the world right now. >> thanks, howie will have a lot more on this on reliable sources, 11:00 a.m. eastern, we'll be watching. he is a viral sensation, but you may not know what this hip south careen rapper has to do with politics. mermaid. honey!? driftwood. come on, you gotta help us out here a little. [ male announcer ] febreze eliminates odors and leaves carpets fresh. ♪ [ male announcer ] febreze. eliminates odors
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the face of politics is changing with a historic number of asian-american candidates ready to come here to washington dc if they win in the november election. >> reporter: in the 2012 race for u.s. congress, there is something different. the names and faces are like 41st congress district mark decano, asian. a historic number of asian's are running for national office. 23 people in races across america. >> maybe it's time someone like me runs for congress and the time is right for someone like me to succeed. >> asians are now america's fastest growing ethnic group. from jeremy lin, to the
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stylingings of psy. experts say the growing profiles in the u.s. nationally education tends to political office. >> it's because of our population growth, political maturity, the fact that we're running for office, and the fact that our voter wills be a key swing vote in lo. >> one-third of asian american voters vn been polled as undecided. >> you ignore this community at your own peril. >> they brought in support to help a win here that would mean a formally red district turns blue, a significant shift for this once conservative district that has this asian and also
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openly ga cy candidate leading the race. >> and a political system that moves closer to represent ag changing america. cnn, riverside, california. happening now, the obama and romney camps spar over a new jobs report. we'll hear from mitt romney live this hour. the real story on the jobs report and a charge that the numbers are cooked. and tainted medicine, a startling jump in the number of cases of meningitis. i'm wolf blitzer, and you're in "the situation room." ♪
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if there is one issue that could inside the presidential election a month from now, it's jobs. and today, new employment numbers are giving the obama campaign a lift after the president's widely panned debate performance. the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 7.8%. that's the lowest level since january, 2009. the same month the president took office. at separate survey of employers showed businesses added 114,000 jobs last month. that's a slow down from previous months after the july and august numbers were revised higher. our national political kor -- is giving us reports on this
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report. >> wolf, the president is using the numbers to support the case that he is making all along that his policies have been good for the economy. he is also careful to make clear that he knows the economy is not out of the woods. >> after losing about 800,000 jobs a month when i took office, our businesses have now added 5.2 million new jobs over the past two-and-a-half years. [ applause ] >> this morning, we found out that the unemployment rate has fallen to it's lowest level since i took office. today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points. it's a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now. >> more good news in the numbers, look at this. the number of people entering
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the workforce last month increased. it's only a tiny butt, .27%, but it's better than the other months when unemployment fell because people looking for work stopped. >> once that number, the unemployment rate goes below 8%, there are significant political ramifications from that. >> there are and it dates back to the days before the president took office. when his team was first crafting a stimulus plan. back then his top economist came out with this chart. he said unemployment would not go above 8% if congress passed this stimulus plan. the president's critics kept hammering him 8%. you heard it all the time arguing that the president didn't make good on what
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stimulus was going to do. so the fact that it's not fallen blow 8% is symbolically important in politics. one thing to keep in mind, this election be l be won or lost in the battleground states, and based on the august figures in these five states, unemployment was higher than the national average. that's bad news for the president. one other problems with as you well know, just days before the election, he has another jobs report coming out. if that's bad news it could sway undecided voters. >> jessica, thanks very much. let's bring in jim acosta, mitt romney is getting ready to speak in just a few minutes, how did this day go, jim? >> the news came just as the romney campaign felt the election was shifting in it's direction based on the debate performance.
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i talked to a romney advisor that said they are still focused on the economy, even if one of their favorite lines of attack is now "out of a job." >> campaigning in virginia coal country, mitt romney tried to dig through the latest jobs numbs to make the case president obama has not hit pay dirt just yet. >> there were fewer new jobs created this month than last month, and the unemployment rate as you noted has come down very, very slowly. the reason it's come down is primarily due to the fact that more and more people have just stopped looking for work. >> still, one of romney's key metices went up in smoke one the nation's unemployment rate dealershiped bel dipped below 8%. >> unemployment of 8% month
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after month after month. >> it's a political bar romney has repeatedly used for months. >> we had 43 straight months with unemployment above 8%. if i'm president, i will help create 12 million new jobs in this country with rising incomes. >> romney knows the president has fallen short of their own economic advisors. >> what's happened is this has been the slowest recovery understand the great depression. as a matter of fact, he said right now we would be at 5.4% unemployment. >> president obama says he's creating jobs, but he's really creating debt. >> and romney as an ad out saying his efforts only added to the deficit. >> a couple nights ago, we had a debate, you may have seen that. >> before the jobs numbers,
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romney was riding a wave -- >> with an obama campaign ad still repeating those remarks, romney tried to put an end to the controversy once and for all. >> clearly in a campaign with hundreds and thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you will say something that doesn't come out right. and i said something completely wrong. >> democrats maintain that tone deafness is from main street to sesame street. >> reporter: now, romney will spend part of this weekend in debate prep. the other part, hitting the president on the economy, and that message could resonate down
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here in florida. and wolf, as i heard from one senior romney advisor earlier today, they still feel like this message of the economy will still win in the end as the advisor put it to me earlier, a weak job growth picture should not be the new normal. >> thanks very much, we'll go back to st. petersburg. meanwhile, president obama's critics are suggesting there is something fishy about a significant drop in the unemployment rate coming so close to the general election. jack welsh suggesting the numbers were cooked to help the president. >> look, the numbers got a lot of room, and it came out very favorably, just one tenth of a point below when the president took office. i was born in salem, mass, and i don't know the way the folks in
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washington do it, but it's a funny way to have it happen. >> experts are dismissing the conspiracy theories about the jobs numbers. ali is joining us right now, you were able to speak with the labor secretary, what did she tell you about how these numbers are calculated because you're hearing suggestions from republicans out there and others that the democrats cooked the numbers to help the president politically. >> first of all, the way the numbers are calculated have not changed in years. you no hilda, who is a generally even toned person. it's part of the labor department, populated by analysts, bureaucrats, nonpartisans, and they do two things. they phone people at their homes and figure out if they're working or if they're self
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employed, and they extrapolate that and it becomes the unemployment number, and they have the number of jobs created or lost every month based on payroll data. the two numbers are entirely different. the surveys are different, and as a result, one doesn't have anything do with the other. the logic here is just because unemployment goes up or down doesn't have to do with the payroll data. the two surveys are conducted differently. there's no change, no doubt cast on their legitimacy. she reinforced the idea that she does not see them until friday morning. the chief officers will usually get them on thursday night, but if there is something very serious that happens, to the degree that they will move markets, they need to discuss with the president the idea of calling in the treasury secretary and the chairman of the federal reserve. short of that, no one has access to the numbers.
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she assured me again nobody touches the numbers, sees them, and there is nothing partisan. >> i know some of the people that work there, they're highly qualified professionals, civil servants, not political appointees, and they do the job as excellently as they possibly can. the confusion, though, and you're touching on it is the unemployment goes down from 8.1% to 7.8, but there's only 114,000 jobs. so how does it drop that much. >> right, and these folks have been around for every other report and they didn't draw attention to this. for the purposes of most people, they should ignore the percentage rate. in theory, you should not see the unemployment rate drop unless you have job creation well above 150,000 a month. we had 114,000.
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usual ly you need to be higher o move the needle down, but people are coming in and out of the workforce fwhb a bad or recoverirekof -- in a bad or recovering economy, you should look at what you can prove, the jobs created or lost in a month. you can see we lost a lot of jobs in 2009. recaning them at the end, and in 2010, 2011, lost more, and all of 2012, we have been gaining jobs. i would have said don't worry about the unemployment rate, but it's become politicized. there is a refrain that nobody gets reelected with unemployment above 8%. it dropped below 8%, and everyone is wondering if the
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books are cooked. >> that's a revision. >> yes, normally you see a bit of a revision, we got 86 thousand more jobs in august than we thought we had. again, that's the best place to focus one's attentions. you can argue then that 114,000 jobs in september is just not good enough, or you can argue that it's better than it was four years ago. it's a good economical and political argument, but most folks are loving in the world of let's accept that these are the numbers. >> it's better than losing 700,000 a month. thanks very much. >> my pleasure. >> later tonight, anderson cooper will interview the man that started this political conspiracy theory, the former ge ceo, jack welsh will be on
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here at 8:00 p.m. eastern. and we're standing by to hear from mitt romney's campaign event in florida, want to hear what he has to say. and our own dr. sanjay gupta in the startling jump of taints medicines. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol
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to make our beautifully imperfect world a little less imperfect. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? we're looking at live pictures from the mitt romney event that's taking place in st. petersburg florida. we'll go there once we see mitt romney. we want to hear what he has to say. another huge story right now, a big jump in the number of people here in the united states with a rare and deadly infection linked to tainted medicine. 47 cases now. seven states reporting meningitis cases tied to pain
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injections for back pain. it's a fungal injection, so it's not contagious, but it's likely to keep on spreading. let's bring in dr. sanjay gupta. they traced to a bad batch of steroids at the new england compound compounded pharmaceutical center. >> yes, say a facility is giving out a large batch of medicine, in this instance, steroids, bow hospitals or clinics want smaller doses. so say you have a 20 cc vile of steroids, a compounds faculty may divy up those doses, they can concentrate it, but nehr not
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manufacturing the medications themselves. they simply tinker with them a little bit, and that's where we believe the con tame nation occurred, wolf. >> and the fda, correct me if i'm wrong, they don't regulate these compounding centers? how is that possible? >> yeah, and this is something that's surprising to a lot of people. we talked to the fda today, and they say look, we've been trying to have authority over these centers for 20 years now. what the argument is, wolf, is that look, these facilities are not in fact manufacturing the drugs. they're simply taking the drugs, changing the doses, divying them up into smaller doses. it comes under the state pharmacy boards. as you know, wolf, as you pointed out, this particular facility distributed medications to several other states, that's why the fda says they should be
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involved. it will be an ongoing debate. >> would that patient even know that he or she is getting a compounded drug, verses a drug that is specifically approved by the fda? >> the patient wouldn't know, and i would take that a step further and i would say that most doctors, clinics and hospitals may not know for sure either. this type of procedure that we're talking about, injecting steroid medication into the blower back of somebody for back pain is something i do as well. say i would like a two cc vile, and it only comes in 20 cc viles, i get them, but what's not always told to me is that it didn't come from the manufacturer, but came from a compounding facility in between. it's not clear cut, but they say we're not manufacturing the
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medications, we're just redistributing them. >> the symptoms often appear only weeks after getting the infections. it takes awhile to get them, and i know many state health departments are trying to contact the individual that's got the steroids, what symptoms should that they be on the look out. >> with fungal meningitis, the fungus can get into the small vessels around the injection sight, swelling, mild stroke like symptoms, numbness or weakness on one side of the body or the other. also inflammation around the brain and spinal cord, neck pain, an aversion to light. they become very lethargic and people can die as well. it's that interval that you point up, up to 28 days that
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made this investigation even more challenging. people had symptoms many days after. so the goals are to prevent any more of these injections. so fife the patient that's did receive the injections, and to treat patients that got any symptoms and treat them early. >> i feel bad for those that received an injection and have not gotten any symptoms or anything like that but they're probably very worried. that's not a good feeling to have for these folks and their families. >> right, and we put up the specific lot numbers that the medications came from. obviously hospitals, doctors, and clinics are keeping on top of that, but you're right, there are a lot of patients out there who received the injections, don't have symptoms yet, they need to pay attention to this and call their clinic and see if they potentially received a contaminated injection. >> thank you, good advice.
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an all-time high for gas prices close to being shattered bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. these appliances could have been made here in america. but a company called global tech maximized profits by paying its workers next to nothing... under sweatshop conditions in china. when mitt romney led bain, they saw global tech as a good investment... even knowing that the firm promoted its practice of exploiting... low-wage labor to its investors. mitt romney - tough on china?
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. the unemployment rate drops below 8% just before the election, and critics are asking if the numbers can be believed. his allies say of course they can. >> it is fairly solid data coming in. and i think over a longer period, we have seen moderate progress that's consistent with modest growth. >> we're joined now by steven moore, a writer for "the wall
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street journal" and also founder of the club for growth. thank you for coming in, do you agree? that this is solid data? >> i would not go that far, but do i agree. it's indicative of a kind of slow-growth economy. i think that republicans still should make jobs issue number one in this campaign because even with a decent number, and by the way, this does probably take away a soundbyte for the republicans, but it's been three and a half years since we have had a a rate under 8%, but it's still a lousy job market for people out there looking. and what we call the broad unemployment rate, that includes people who can't find a full-time job, that's 14.6% or 23 million workers. >> in terms of cooking the
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books, jack welsh, the former g.e. ceo. saying it's too politically convenient. you can say to them what? >> i don't think there is a conspiracy here. i think it's almost certain there isn't. but what jumped out at people, wolf, in these numbers, is there are two surveys they do. one of businesses and one of households, and the how's hold survey found 875,000 new people working, and people are scratching their heads saying where did that number come from. the other report showed 110,000. >> and some of those people working could be part-time working, freelance working, they're not necessarily full-time employees. >> yes, and this is a point for weakness. there was a lot of new jobs created, but two out of three of them were part-time workers. so those are people working
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20-25 hours a week. it's hard to pay your mortgage, pay your electricity bills, and pay your groceries if you're only working part-time. >> i want you to react to what mitt romney said in the debate. >> i'm not looking for a $5 trillion tax cut, i said i won't put in place a tax cut that will add to the deficit. so there is no economist that sayly not add to the deficit -- >> is his across the board cuts, rates going down 20%, will that cost $5 trillion? >> if he does it the way he says he's going to, then it won't. >> but he's not explaining how to eliminate the deductions or loopholes. >> i think he is being a little unfairly criticized. he said this week you could have a standard deduction that
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everyone gets of $17,000 or $20,000. when you're talking about wealthy people, they're taking hundreds and thousands if not millions of deductions. so this is a progressive way to do it. here is the problem, wolf. having someone that used to be involved in the campaigns, if romney said we're getting rid of the deduction, you all in the media and me, i'm in the media, we would be attacking -- >> people are so attached to that interest deduction. if he says he's going to eliminate that, he's going to get a lot of political grief. >> exactly, and i don't know all of the details of the plan, but they say look, if you're in a $5 mansion, should you get a $million right off? >> what about millions and billionaires, if they can't write off charity donations,
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what will happen to the charities. >> people with more income, and people at the high end of the income scale, they're chartab charitable, they're going to give even if it's not a write off. >> you think if he did, under his plan, because right now the economy as you say is growing at 1.3%, under his plan, what do you think realisticly the economy could grow at and how much new revenue would be brought in? >> not just from his tax plan, but a plan to increase energy production, we were talking about all-time high gasoline prices. we need to increase our domestic drilling, and if you do those things, i believe you can get to 12 million jobs. that's not such a stretch. we had that pace of job creation under ronald reagan, and that level of job creation under bill clinton. >> and a democratic president where the tax rates were higher. >> right, you had a republican
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congress, welfare reform. >> the highest rate was 39.6%. and the gdp was going up. >> look what happened to the size of the government. he was a very fiscally conservative president unlike barack obama where the budget went through the roof. i think that is a key distinction. >> the era of big government is over. listen to eric, and what he told me about mitt romney yesterday here in "the situation room." the governor believe that's those with continuous coverage should not be dropped if they change their plans and have a pre-existing condition. states are well situated to manage these issues. we did it in massachusetts, and they can do it in other states as well. >> mitt romney says he wants to make sure that people can get insurance even if they have pre-existing conditions, but if he gives the states the opportunity to come up with their own plans, there's no
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guarantee that will do that. >> this is a politically popular thing, and now that we passed obama's health care program, that's something that any plan will provide, provisions. >> forcing states to maintain -- >> i have problems with that but i'm not running for office. that problem is that it makes it easier for people to not buy insurance until they get sick or have an accident. >> if he gives the states the flexibility, there's no guarantee that other states will go along with what massachusetts did. >> the states, also, i talked to a lot of these governors, rick scott in florida, and rick perry in texas, and you know what they're saying? just let us control the health care system. we can control these budgets. and don't forget, if you look at the state budgets, the number one driver of their budget social security medicaid.
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>> thank you, go nationals. >> as the presidential election gets closer, could there be an october surprise from iran? new signals coming in on the nuclear stand off with the united states. ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪ and certain men... find a way to rise above. this is the land of giants. ♪ guts. glory. ram. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is!
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it is so good. ♪ could one of americas adversaries be ready to blung. would iran be open to suspending it's nuclear program if it got something major in return. let's bring in jill dougherty working the story for us. >> you know, wolf, the europeans are ready to impose new sanctions, but it's unclear if that pressure can force ryan to stop it's nuclear program, and it's unclear what they think about all of this. as you know, the real leader and man in charge is not president ahmadinejad, it's the supreme leader. >> unrest on the streets of
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tehron. angering iranians facing skyrockets costs for basic goods. their president ahmadinejad brushes off the sanctions as psychological warfare by iran's economies. they're also under the threat of a military strike by israel. european officials say there are conflicting signals from iran on whether it's taking that threat seriously. so far, iran seems to be sticking with a proposal from july. as the first step, iran demands the international community officially recognize the nuclear rights of iran, particularly it's enrichment activities and openly announce it as well as terminate all unilateral and
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multilateral sanctions. if that is meant, they say they will suspend the development of uranium. but that's the complete reverse of the obama administration and it's allies want. first ryan must stop enrichment and come clean on the nuclear program. then sanctions will be lifted. so it seems like a nonstarter, but secretary of state hillary clinton said this week it's a simple solution. >> the sanctions have had an impact as well, but those could be remedied in short order if the iranian government were willing to work with the p 5 plus one and the rest of the international community in a sincere manner. >> yes, a big if, and european and u.s. o fishes tell cnn that that see no sign of any
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softenning by tehran. >> thanks very, very much. the vice president of the united states, joe biden, made some interesting remarks on the campaign trail once again. one that reminded me of another former vice president of the united states. you're not using too much are you, hon? ♪ nope. [ female announcer ] charmin ultra soft is so soft you'll have to remind your family they can use less. charmin ultra soft is made with extra cushions that are soft and more absorbent. plus you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. don't worry, there's plenty left for you dad. we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft?
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the surprising new development in that arizona border shooting case, lisa is back with more of that. >> the shooting of a u.s. border patrol agent in arizona may have been a case of friendly fire. the fbi is investigating.
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one agent died and another was injured when they were responding to a border sensor. they are waiting for results on tests for shell casings. and gas prices are soaring to shocking levels in california. a number of stations have even been forced to shut down. they sold out of their gas and are waiting to reopen when they can buy it at cheaper prices. the price has hit $4.48. the price spike is being blaminged on a refiery fire. and scientists are studying an amazing find from the russian tundra. a woolly mammouth.
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scientists labored for five days, and the mammouth is being named after the boy that found it. there are wears that used to be covered in ice, but now because of global warming their thawing out and their finding some amazing things. 30,000 years old is what it's estimated to be. >> lisa, thank you. the united states military is preparing for possible trouble with iran with the economic sanctions don't work. tom foerman is in tonight for erin burnett. what's going on? >> there is a big stand off going on right now and the military is getting ready to see what happens as the sanctions continue over the nukes over there. and we're taking a look at the play on the numbers by the democrats and republicans when you look at jobs and a great story about a man from detroit who became a musical star on the other side of the world and he didn't even know it.
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wolf? >> amazing, we'll be watching at the top of the hour, thank you tom. the empty chair is back, this time it's not clint eastwood poking fun at the president. [ male announcer ] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens,
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a funny and rather biting new spoof of the president's debate performance. this is the cove of the brand new "new yorker." the president of the united states being represented as an empty chair. let's bring in our chief politically correspondent. the editor of the magazine, that
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is a biting cover, you have an empty chair instead of him debating machinery. >> and i think the president reads it, so that will not be pleasing to him. >> it further underscores the underscores that even a lot of liberals and the president's supporters were disillusioned. >> funny thing about elections and presidencies. people think you have to fight for the job. don't forget, this is a president who is out there e-mailing people saying please fight for us, send us your $5, your $10 contcontributions, the "the new yorker" cover says he didn't show up and that's a problem. >> joe biden, he's causing a little wave out there with another comment he made. i'll play the clip, then i'll play another of what it reminds me of. >> we're going to ask the wealthy to pay more.
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my heart breaks. come on, man. you know the phrase we always use? obama and biden want to raise taxes by $8 trillion. guess what? yes, we do in one regard. we want to let that trillion dollar tax cut expire so the middle class doesn't have to bear the burden of all that money going to the super wealthy. >> so, he says they are going to raise taxes by $1 trillion, but it will affect the super wealthy. he says it sort of reminded me of this clip, another former vice president of the united states. this one, walter mondale. in 1980. >> let's tell the truth. that must be done, it must be done. mr. reagan will raise taxes.
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and so will i. he won't tell you. i just did. >> mondale was then challenging reagan, who was the incumbent president. that hurt him badly, that comment. >> i think the the difference is that when mondale said what he said, it was kind of a r revelation. we know as a fact of this campaign and what the the president sa president said and what joe biden said is that they're going to let the bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. they've promised they're going to do that. they're going to do that and that is what i think joe biden was referring to. >> it's another thing to say it the way he said it, we're going raise taxes by a trillion dollar, then explains. but using the phrase, raise taxes by a trillion dollars. >> well, letting tax cuts expire is raising taxes. >> that's correct. it's just the way he formlated
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it. >> thanks very much. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] almost nothing can dampen a baby's mood, when he wakes up dry in pampers. unlike other diapers, pampers has 3 absorbent layers, for up to 12 hours of protection overnight, and more beautiful mornings. ♪ [ female announcer ] pampers. peaceful nights. playful days. not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪
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like the new droid razr m by motorola only $99.99. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well.
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so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. the deadline for the presidential election is just around the corner. john zarrella caught up with some people and they're finding a discouraging amount of -- >> reporter: jacina and karen go door to door. >> are you registered to vote in. >> reporter: in florida, the deadline is tuesday. if you're in the registereded by
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then, you can't vote. >> sometimes, i get sad people people tell me i don't want to vote. i don't like voting and you know, it's kind of frustrating sometimes that they have the right and can vote, they just don't want to vote. >> reporter: they worked with a florida immigrant coalition. one of the plethora of organizations engaged in a last minute race to register voters. since the state's august primary, more than 133,000 people have registered. at nova southeastern law school in broward, county. at florida atlantic university in boca raton -- >> hey, are you registered to vote? >> reporter: outside the courthouse, there's no mistaking which candidate allen supports, but he says -- >> we register -- >> reporter: 20-year-old jonathan registered. >> i'm looking in the future, like ten year, whatever they can do to make their four years
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count is what i really want. >> reporter: with so much at stake in florida, there can be a dark side to voter registration. susan booker discovered discrepancies, signatures that look the same. addresses that didn't appear right on more than 100 voter registration forms. >> we just haven't ever experienced this kind of issue with the registration forms, so that's got us a little disconce disconcerted. >> reporter: strategic allied consu consulting, hired by the republican party to register voters, was fired. strategic insists the problem was one individual. back in ft. lauderdale, not a good day for jessina and karen. only a handful of new registers. that hurts, they say. you see, neither one is a u.s. citizen. both are part of the group called dreamers, whose parents brought them here illegally when
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they were children and here they are, trying to encourage people to exercise their right they only wish they had. >> have a nice day. >> meanwhile, an important ruling today. a court allowed early in-person voting in ohio during the final three days before the presidential election. the case was brought by democrats and the obama campaign. here's a look at this hour's hot shots. in cambodia, a woman lights a prayer candle inside a pagoda. in japan, fans are seen following practice for the japanese formula one grand prix. in france, a man looks at art work at a festival and in turkey, check this out. a shepard rides his horse near the turkish syria border. and remember, you can always follow what's going on here